Self-lighting cigarette



M. 8. BROWN.

SELF LIGHTING CIGARETTE.

- APPLICATION FILED MAY 8, I919.

Patented Jan. 6, 1920.

Munro 5 Bmwm l ENTOR I ATTORNEY- UNITED NT OFFICE.

MUNBO S, IB ROWN, OF GOLDFIELD, NEVADA.

. SELF-LIGHTING oleann'r'rn.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 6, 1920.

Application filed May 8, 1919. Serial No. 295.689.

1 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MUNRO vS. BROWN, a citizen of the. United States, residing at Goldfield, in the county of Esmeralda and State of Nevada, have lnvented Self-Lightin Cigarettes, of which the following 1s a fu l and complete specification.

My invention is an improvement in cigars and cigarettes, and has partlcular reference to providing a cigarette with igniting-means in the form of a tip at the end thereof whereby it may be readily and conveniently lighted without requiring the use of a match,

Those accustomed to the use of cigarettes quite frequently are in the unfortunate situation of having a plentiful supply of cigarettes but without any means of lighting one, and under the circumstances are deprived of the pleasure of smoking until a light can be obtained. Then a ain, wind conditions sometimes make it di 'cult to keep a match lighted until the cigarette can be lighted therefrom.

Therefore it is for the purpose of providing an unfailing medium by which the cigarette may be lighted that I provide the end of the cigarette with a small tip of igniting material applied in such manner that it will be efiicient'in effecting the lighting of the cigarette and at the same time will not materlally increase the bulk or diameter of the same at the end and thus permit a number of cigarettes supplied with the igniting means to be packed closely and "evenly in'a box or container,as usual.

'It is also my purpose, in the present instance, to make the igniting-tip of a compo- :sition such as employed in the manufacture of the ordinary safety-match so that it can be ignited only in cooperation with the usual phosphoric surface, the latter being s mllar to that applied to the box containing safetymatches but in the present instance applied to the box or container in which the cigarettes are packed; whereby accidental. ignition of the tip may be prevented.

My invention contemplates applying the igniting-tip tothe end of the cigarette in the particular manner hereinafter set forth, and

whatlI claim as new in theart and desire to properly protect by Letters-Patent is more specifically set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

1g ure 1 is a plan View showing the application of my invention and illustrating a package of cigarettes provided with the igniting-tips. r

Fig. 2 is a detail View of a cigarette supplied with an igniting-tip in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 3 is a similar View with the outer end of the cigarette in section to show the disposition of the igniting-tip with respect to the tobacco and paper tube or wrapper.

Figs. 4', 5 and 6 illustrate the different steps which are employed in applying and forming the tip in the end of the cigarette. In view of the character of the ordinary cigarette made to comprise a paper tube and the cigarette should not be materially inr creased to prevent a quantity of cigarettes from being neatly packed in a box or container as usual; but of course it is necessary that a suflicient quantity or bulk of the igniting material should be applied to effect the proper lighting of the cigarette.

In the drawings I have shown my inVention applied to the ordinary form of ci a rette, composed of a paper tube 5,-filled wlth tobacco 6, of the character commonly known as machine-made cigarettes; although of course it will be obvious that the same may be applied to all-tobacco cigarettes, and c1 ars.

11 carrying out my invention the i itingtip 7 is applied to one end of the cigarette so as to become an'intimate part of the same, being bulbous or practically semi-spherical in shape and of a diameter corresponding substantiallywith that of the cigarette at the curved surface is outermost for contact with the cooperatin phosphoric surface across which said tip 18 rubbed to ignite the same.

The igniting-tip is composed of the material usually employed in making the heads of safety-matches, and as such composltions are well known a particular description of ence to which it will be seen that the end of the cigarette is first dipped into the liquidmixture 8, in trough 9, (Fig. 4), then removed, which will leave a comparativelythin coating of the liquid-mixture at the end of said cigarette, as indicated in Fig. 5, and in a very short while said coating or small batch of the ignitin mixture will assume the extended or glo ular shape shown in Fig. 6 and harden. Of course the Whole operation consumes but a very short period of time, according to the nature of the igniting composition or its hardening 1propensity; and it will be understood, also, t at the several steps of the operation ma be accomplished by a suitable apparatus {not shown), but which may be devised and ap lied as an attachment to any type of ci a ette machine. As the material which a heres to the end of the cigarette in the dipping operaflows away from the sides of the end of the cigarette so that the completely formed and hardened igniting-tip will not extend beyond said sides to any material extent and thereby interfere with the packing of the cigarettes neatly in the container, and the body of the tip will project only a slight distance from the end of the cigarette so that it will not detract from the general appearance of said ci arette.

When a mac inc-made cigarette is manufactured there is usually a small space left in each end of the paper tube or wrapper beyond the tobacco filling, and therefore when one end of the cigarette is dipped to receive the small batch of igniting-material the latter will enter this space and with the thin film that is left on the outside of the paper tube after the tip is formed and hardens will serve to securely connect said tip to the cigarette; the connection or attachment being materially augmented by the mixture penetrating into and being incorporated with the shreds of tobacco-filling at the extreme end of said filling. In such instances that in the manufacture of the cigarette the tobacco fillthe embeddin of the paper tube or wrapper into the har ened igniting-ti attaches the latter firmly and securely to t e cigarette so that it. will not become detached when rubbed across the surface which cooperates in i nitin said tip.

Til

e operation hereinbefore described would be carried out in forming the igniting-tip on the end of an all-tobacco cigarette or cigar, and in these instances the wra per of the cigarette or cigar would be embe tied in the hardened tip in the same manner as in the case of the paper-tube.

The strikin surface for the igniting-tip, composed of t e material used on the boxes for safety-matches, may be applied anywhere on the package in which the cigarettes are packed, but I prefer to apply the same across the lower end of the front or back of the package, where it will not only be convenient for striking 0d the tipped-cigarette but such location is less likely to result in its becoming broken in the handlin of the package. Fi 1 of the drawing s ows this disposition of the striking surface, in which 10 designates the package, and 11 the strikin surface. I

he operation of lighting a cigarette provided with an igniting-tip as herein described will be readily understood, inasmuch as said operation is precisely like that of striking an ordinary safety-match, the body of the cigarette being held in the same way the stem of the match is held as the tip is drawn across the cooperating igniting surface on the package.

The cigarettes are packed preferably with the tipped-ends toward the bottom of the package, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to not only better protect the-tips when the package is opened but also that the cigarettes as drawn from the package will be in proper position in the hand for striking on the surface to ignite said tip. 1

The addition of the igniting-tips to an end of the cigarettes will not add materially to the cost of a package of cigarettes, and the convenience of having the means for producing a light will prove of great advantage in many situations where a match may be hard to obtain or where it may be diflicult to keep a match lighted.

Having described my invention, ll claim:

1. In combination with a cigarette of a tip of iiniting material extending into one end of t e paper tube or wra per and slightly penetrating the tobacco fi lin with a thin hn of the igniting materia around the 5 outer side of the paper-tube or wrapper whereby the latter and shreds of the tobaccofillin are embedded in said tip.

2. n combination with a 01 arette com prising a tube and filling of to acco with a space within the outer end of the tube, of

igniting material introduced into the space at the outer end of the tube and around the outer side of the latter and so that said ma-' terial penetrates the tobacco filling, whereby said ignitin material forms a tip securely attached to t e end of the cigarette; as herein set forth.

- MUNRO S. BROWN. 

